Jerry Jones expects Cowboys to have talent to compete for Super Bowl in 2012

INDIANAPOLIS — Sixteen years, 838 weeks and 5,872 days have passed since the Cowboys last won a Super Bowl in January 1996. When at one point the Vince Lombardi Trophy never seemed out of reach for the once-proud franchise, it is now an elusive prize.

Besieged by criticism from a growing legion of detractors, team owner Jerry Jones acknowledges he is troubled by the fact that his team hasn’t won a championship since the Clinton administration.

“It’s been very disappointing,” Jones said Friday.

But the man who has presided over the organization’s prolonged drought still believes the team he has constructed and plans to reshape in the coming months is capable of winning a title.

“I see the talent level as being able to put us in a competitive situation for the Super Bowl,” Jones said.